A former police chief of one Livingston County community has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from the school district where he was employed as a School Resources Officer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Testani, who is handling the case, stated that in 2022, the Avon Central School District and the Village of Avon entered into a School Resource Officer Contract, in which the Village of Avon agreed to provide an off-duty member of the Avon Police Department to provide various services to the district. In exchange, the School Resource Officer (SRO) would be paid an hourly wage by the district. Between September 2023, and January 2024, Joseph Geer was employed as the Avon Police Chief and an SRO under the contract. During that time, Geer billed the district for hours during which he did not perform duties under the contract. Geer assigned an on-duty subordinate officer to “cover” his obligations, thus depriving the Village of Avon of a patrolling on-duty police officer. Geer knew that by assigning an on-duty officer to cover his duties, the Village of Avon was being charged for a police officer’s wages who was not performing all of his police officer duties.
The value of police services for the Village of Avon that were lost while officers covered Geer’s SRO duties was approximately $6,866.84.
“As the Chief of Police for the Avon Police Department, Joseph Geer knew that his behavior was wrong ,” stated U.S. Attorney Ross. “Geer’s fraudulent behavior took a patrol officer off the road and away from patrolling the village. Geer’s actions were uncovered because of the diligent investigation by our law enforcement partners, and as a result, he is being held fully accountable.”
“During his time as Avon Police Chief, Joseph Geer violated his oath to protect his community,” said Matthew Miraglia, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office. “Ultimately, Geer chose greed over integrity. The FBI will continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of fraud and hold public officials accountable.”
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said, “Joseph Geer was entrusted by the people of his community to protect and serve but instead took advantage of his position to serve himself. My thanks to U.S. Attorney Ross and the FBI for ensuring he is held accountable.”
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, and the New York State Comptroller’s Office, under the direction of Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Geer now faces up to 10 years in prison, with sentencing set for June 5.
Have all the Finger Lakes news from Finger Lakes News Radio delivered to your email every morning for FREE! Sign up by clicking here.
